Operation: Rescue
by Meaki
Summary: Some kids gets kidnapped and Vector takes the case. However, when Sonic gets the news, he ,also, jumps to the rescue. Team up! SonAmy. OOC. it's from the game: Sonic Heroes..
1. Chapter 1

_A/N:_ This is my first Sonic fiction. It is centred around Team Chaotix from the game; _Sonic Heroes._ Hehe, funny game... But don't worry guys; Sonic is here too, he's just not _that_ important... Or maybe he is... O.o;

Summary: A bunch of kids gets kidnapped and one of them manages to call Vector. He decides to take job of finding them; obviously some mad man is using them all for a ritual.

Disclaimer: Sonic does not belong to me, neither any of the other characters... Just the ones that I made up as I ran along the sea of craziness...

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**_Operation: Rescue_**

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**_Chapter one_**

Vector was alone at the office that afternoon.

Outside, the birds twittered under the hot sun and the bees hummed. Speaking of bees... He looked around, and then frowned as he placed the box of doughnuts down on his desk. Wasn't Charmy supposed to be home by now? Sniffing around the office, he was even more surprised to find his headset gone!

"Charmy, have you taken my headset again!"

He trashed about for a while looking vigorously for it, turning everything upside down. He was just about to crunch the box of goodies when Espio entered the room. He was carrying a fat envelope in his hand and a sly smile on his face.

"Hey Vector, guess what just arrived in the mail..."

But the larger man didn't even seem to notice as he just stared sadly out the window.

"Save it if you haven't found my headphones..."

He slumped down behind his desk and grabbed a doughnut to comfort himself with.

Shaking his head, Espio waved the envelope in front of the crocodile.

"See this? With all this money, after I get my fair share of it off course, you can buy yourself all the headphones and walkmans you'd ever dreamt off."

Finally getting the croc's attention, he placed it next to the box of doughnuts.

Fanning himself, due to the hot weather, Espio sighed in content.

"This job is finally paying off..."

"Oh, how so? I've lost my headphones--"

Espio glared and threw his hands up.

"Headphones, headphones! You shouldn't be bothered by things like that, they can be replaced! And on the note, where's Charmy? I haven't seen him all day..."

Vector grabbed another doughnut and munched it down.

"Maybe he's still at school, heh; the kid needs an education after all."

Getting back onto his feet he made a grab for the phone. But just as he reached for it, it rang. Suddenly, the vase in the window fell. Looking down at it, Espio frowned and muttered something about a bad omen. Vector snorted and picked the receiver up instead of fussing over a broken vase.

"Hello, Vector here, how can I be of service?"

_"He-hello?"_

He looked at the receiver, the voice was frightened. It also sounded like a child...

Nodding to Espio, he signalized the chameleon to trace the phone call.

"Yes, can I help you?"

He tried to not to sound pushy as he led the conversation on.

"_Yes, I-I need help. Ple-please don't tell him that I called! He's doing odd things to the other children. I-I'm scared!"_

Espio shook his head and gave Vector thumbs down; the call was untraceable...

Gathering his wits, Vector tried to reason with the child.

"Ok, I won't, now will you please tell me your name and where you're calling from? I want to help, but I need a location first."

_"O-ok... Um, my name is Ashime. I'm an o-orphan. There was this man that came to the orphanage last night, said that he wanted to a-adopt me or s-something. Um, he took me and my brother away to this city; I've never been here before. So-sorry..."_

"That's ok doll. Now; you were talking about _the other children_. How many are you?"

The voice gasped and the line suddenly broke. He looked concerned over at his colleague who looked back at him.

"We should try and find that girl."

Espio nodded to this, and then he shook his head and tapped the trace device.

"The only thing I could trace is that the call came from the abandoned docks over on the south side of the city... But shouldn't we find Charmy first?"

Nodding, the huge croc dialled the number to the school were the third member of the group attended to his education. Meanwhile, Espio turned the TV on to see if anyone was missing any kids. Perhaps the kidnapper only took orphans and in that case, they had to warn other orphanages from letting go of any kids...

"Hello, this is Vector, Charmy's, err, uncle. Is he by any chance close by? I need to talk to him."

It was kind of hard to explain the work-relationship that he shared with the six years old kid.

Espio leaned back in the chair as he flipped the various channels looking for the news channel.

As he arrived at it, it was all over the screen. Three children were missing and there were also eight orphans that had been 'adopted' around the last twenty-four hours.

"Vector, look! It's that girl, Ashime!"

He pointed at the screen as pictures of the missing kids were being showed. The girl was something similar to an Echidna, with golden fur and a cute blue dress on her. Next to her was a boy Echidna holding onto her hand. He was darker in the fur, yet he had the same blue eyes as Ashime.

"They must be siblings, Vector, are you watching this?"

He looked annoyed over at his friend as he heard a clatter. Vector was staring into thin air. Getting hastily to his feet, Espio jumped up and delivered a slap to the man's face.

"Hey! Get back into that empty head of yours! What is it, do you know that girl?"

"No... Espio..."

Vector gave him a scared look.

"Charmy never made it to school today..."

TBC. . .


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N:_ This is my first Sonic fiction. It is centred around Team Chaotix from the game; _Sonic Heroes._ Hehe, funny game... But don't worry guys; Sonic is here too, he's just not _that_ important... Or maybe he is... O.o;

Summary: A bunch of kids gets kidnapped and one of them manages to call Vector. He decides to take job of finding them; obviously some mad man is using them all for a ritual.

Disclaimer: Sonic does not belong to me, neither any of the other characters... Just the ones that I made up as I ran along the sea of craziness...

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_**Chapter two**_

Zooming along the beaches of the south central sea, Sonic gave half a thought to where in the world his friends might be now. Not that he ever worried about how they were doing, he was actually more worried about Amy catching up to him. It wasn't like he didn't like her, but he loved a good race and he had promised himself, that if she _could_ catch him, he would fess up and marry her.

An airplane rode across the sky, looking down on him. Secretly, he hoped it was Tails, but he hadn't seen the fox since their last encounter with Dr. Eggman... Letting out some air, he came to a halt. It far too hot today to be running his shoes off. Walking over to some palm trees, he slumped down onto the sand and dozed quickly off.

_"Sonic, I finally found you!"_

He jumped to his feet, but it had only been a dream. Falling back on his butt, the hedgehog smiled up at the clouds that had finally started to form around the big city. Taking a long deep breath, he got back up. The weather was cooling down, so he could get on his way. Maybe a trip into town! He _was_ starting to build up an appetite.

Launching himself forwards, he ran off into the city.

Upon coming to a stop in front of a hotdog stand, he noticed a familiar character. Ducking fast behind the stand, he peered over at the girl. He had to snicker as he saw her walk around aimlessly. Figuring it would be good for him; he started up and headed over.

"S'up Amy? What a coincidence to meet you here."

He flashed a smile and watched her eyes grow bigger.

"Sonic, oh I can't believe my luck!"

She made a grab for him which he dodged easily. Falling to her knees, she suddenly broke out in laughter.

"Oh I should have known better!"

Getting back up and brushing off some dust of her dress, she grinned at him.

"You saw me and decided to tease me huh?"

He sighed and bowed his head. Not that he was loosing face.

"Gee Amy, nothing gets past you does it?"

She smiled at him, but as she opened her mouth to answer him a shriek called their attention.

"Help, kidnappers!"

Sonic blasted off towards the sound and found himself face to face with a little girl being dragged off by a big man in a trench coat. She seemed to be around six years old and Sonic heard himself snort as he bounced off towards them. Kicking the man over the head, he grabbed the girl and ran back to Amy to place her there for safe keeping. Running back to the man, he struck a pose as the man got back to his feet. He seemed very busy hiding his face...

"Picking on little girls eh? Why don't you try on someone your own size for once?"

The man sneered at him and threw something to the ground. At first glance Sonic thought it was a bomb, but when it exploded; it released strong flashes of light that blinded just about anyone around.

"Damn he got away!"

He kicked the ground and turned to go back to Amy and the little girl.

Giving them both a smile, he reassured the girl that the man would not bother her again. She grinned back and waved at them as she ran off.

Glancing after her, the two sighed in relief.

"Oh Sonic, you were so brave! Thanks to you, the kidnapper _escaped_!"

Amy stomped the ground making Sonic step back.

"What do you mean Amy? There's a kidnapper here? But I just stopped him!"

"You just stopped him momentarily... He has already gotten eleven children. People are looking none stop for them."

He gasped.

"Do you think he could have gotten Tails too!"

Giving him a dead panned look, she sighed. Then she explained to him that the kids the kidnapper took was around five to six years old and that Tails was probably far away and not the first in question of being kidnapped by a mad man. Glaring at the sidewalk, he shuffled his feet and turned to walk away. Clapping his thigh, he gave her a signal to follow.

"So, anything on where the kids are, or what's connecting them?"

Amy smiled grimly.

"Only that they seem to be around the same age... Some even got kidnapped in another town and brought here. As for where they could be hidden, no one has a clue... If only we had someone who was good at finding things."

She looked up dreamily. Sonic nodded to this.

"Yeah, someone like; Vector and those friends of his! Amy, come on! We need to make visit in the shadier part of this town!"

He grabbed onto her wrist and bolted off towards the detective agency.

TBC . . .


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N:_ This is my first Sonic fiction. It is centred around Team Chaotix from the game; _Sonic Heroes._ Hehe, funny game... But don't worry guys; Sonic is here too, he's just not _that_ important... Or maybe he is... O.o;

Summary: A bunch of kids gets kidnapped and one of them manages to call Vector. He decides to take job of finding them; obviously some mad man is using them all for a ritual.

Disclaimer: Sonic does not belong to me, neither any of the other characters... Just the ones that I made up as I ran along the sea of craziness...

_**Chapter three**._

"He never showed up?"

Espio shook his head and glanced away. Had Charmy gotten kidnapped as well? He started gathering his stuff, among them; some gadgets that he knew would come in handy. Opening a locker, he spied a lost item. Picking up the neglected headphones, he threw them at his friend. Vector caught them in midair and slammed them onto his head.

Running out the door, they bumped into a certain blue hedgehog and his pink furred friend.

"You here? What's next, Dr. Eggman?"

Sonic brushed the comment off as he levelled the crocodile with a glare.

"I didn't come here to listen to your lame remarks; I came here for information on some missing kids!"

Vector looked stunned at the short critter. How typical of Sonic to get involved in cases like this. But as long as the doc stayed away, he wouldn't complain.

"So what do you want? I'm a busy croc..."

He crossed his arms and glared back. The two of them seemed to be standing their ground until Amy nudged Sonic to go on.

"Uh, yeah. Listen, we've been hearing stuff about kids disappearing, and I was wondering if you three had heard anything... Wait... You're not three... Where's the bee?"

He peered around the office.

Espio pulled the back pack better onto his shoulders and started to walk past them.

"That's what we want to know... Follow me; I'll talk as we go to where our only clue got us..."

And so they waltzed all the way to the south side of the city. The buildings and warehouses there seemed to have been abandoned for decades. Rust and mould coloured the metallic walls and the pavement was cracked.

Amy summed up what both groups had gathered of information:

"So apparently, Charmy's gone, he got kidnapped this morning. Seeing how he's six years old, he would fit to the fact that kids that age are disappearing... The call you guys got was from one of the victims, Ashime, who made a call from this area and apparently they are being used for some ritual..."

She stopped to peek around the area.

"But from where? This place is huge. We'll never have enough time to search all these warehouses before the kidnappers will move again, not even Sonic can do that!"

Perking up at the mention of his name, Sonic jumped back down from his lookout post, on top of a building. Landing safely next to the others he grabbed Vector's cell phone.

"Then it's time to call for professional help."

He dialled a long series of number; some of them were numbers for connecting with other countries... Lifting it to his ear, he grinned as a voice appeared on the other side of the line.

"Hey Tails, I could really use you here in person, but this will have to do."

_"What's up Sonic? Trouble with tying your shoes again?"_

The hedgehog twitched. That had only happened like _once_ and he had been too drunk to even count his fingers!

"Very funny kid, but this is serious! Someone is kidnapping kids. We're as close as we can possible be, but Vector and Espio couldn't trace this phone call all the way back to the caller's position... Can you help?"

A snicker on the other side tingled its way into his ear. He had just given Tails a challenge, and the kit was going to take it on! Telling Espio to give him the tracking device, he played of the call for Tails to hear. After that, he gave his current locating and then waited for the answer.

_"Hm, tough one... Let me rewind the taped call:_

_'Ok, I won't, now will you please tell me your name and where you're calling from? I want to help, but I need a location first.'_

_'O-ok... Um, my name is Ashime. I'm an o-orphan. There was this man that came to the orphanage last night, said that he wanted to a-adopt me or s-something. Um, he took me away to this city; I've never been here before. _

_So-sorry...'_

_'That's ok doll. Now; you were talking about the other children--'_

_That's what I got... Lessee... Aha! I found a match. A phone booth not far from where you guys are standing! She must have escaped and made the call from there. Man, that tracking device that you used must have been made by a knucklehead...It was ancient. Anyways, I'm making a search on images taken from this area; maybe a satellite has seen something..."_

The line went dead for a while and Sonic reckoned that the kit would call him. Sprinting around aimlessly, he warmed up his leg muscles. You never knew when you had to make a run for it...

The others seemed worried, Espio kept jumping around looking for clues and Vector scowled at his own shadow on the ground. Amy was replaying the call to see if there were any background noises that could lead them to who the kidnapper was... When the phone finally rang again, Sonic jumped to take it.

"Yes, what you got for me?"

_"Bad news I'm afraid... I checked the satellites and it seems that more than five people has been walking trough here, but no one has entered any buildings from what the pictures tell me. But, that doesn't mean that this is the wrong place. Now would you please be so kind as to move your butt off that man hole that you're standing on Sonic?"_

Sonic glanced up into the air. Could Tails see them? Where on earth was he? He moved to the side and laughter came from the receiver.

_"Yes Sonic, I can see you..."_

"Um, where are you?"

He looked up again and tilted his head.

_"That information is confidential, I'm sorry. Let's just say that I'm not on Earth anymore and leave it at that."_

"Ok, then what do I do know?"

He was then told to go to the phone booth. Whoever interrupted that call might have left a clue. And they could only hope, because there were no images of the place on Tails' map.

When they arrived, the first thing they noticed was; the blood.

The open yard that trucks were often parked at, was drenched in it. The walls, the ground and the phone booth.

"Tails, why didn't you tell us about the-"

_"About what? I only have a black and white screen in front of me; darn cut backs in the budget-"_

"Tails, there is a lot of blood here... Everywhere..."

They all stared stunned at the scene for a moment. Was this the blood of that little girl? Vector felt awful as he stepped out on the ground.

Then Tails' voice suddenly echoed in Vector's phone.

_"Wait! Vector, don't step there! There's an opening in the ground. The blood is a diversion to lure away people who come here! I'm pretty sure it's pig's blood or something..."_

Jumping back to the others, Vector looked carefully at the ground. And sure as the sky was blue, there was a trap door that was half-open in front of him. Gazing behind him, he gave Espio the go ahead to check it out. Rendering himself invisible, Espio jumped over to the door and kicked it open. The door swinged down towards an underground sewer system.

"Tails, it seems to be a sewer system, can you find a map for us?"

Sonic whispered as he jumped down after Espio and the croc. Well down, he reached up and helped Amy get down. Down in the darkness, the blood was gone, except for a trail of footprints that led away from them.

_"I'm working on it, don't go anywhere... Since I can't see you I am going to assume where you are standing. Look north..."_

"Ok, now I am."

He turned north and wished once again that he had had his gadgets with him.

"I wish you could have beamed me something to help me in this darkness..."

A hand reached out to him and opened to reveal a tiny screen fastened on a headset. Its owner was the chameleon.

"You're faster than me... So this ought to help you more than me."

He averted Sonic's gaze and pulled back into the shadows. Fastening the headset, Sonic turned it on. The humming sound it made indicated that it was responding to him.

"Hey, can you hack into this device and help me?"

_"Gimme the serial number and two minutes."_

Two minutes later he was ready to go. The floor was slippery which could mean that he needed to be extra careful. A flash in the screen and he saw the face of his dear friend.

"Tails!"

_"Yeah, yeah...Listen, I'm putting on a headset too, so I'll see whatever you see, and in techno colour even. So don't go looking at anything I'm too young to see k?"_

He snorted and waved at the others.

"I'll call you when I find them, ok? See ya!"

And with that he disappeared into the darkness...

TBC . . .


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N:_ This is my first Sonic fiction. It is centred around Team Chaotix from the game; _Sonic Heroes._ Hehe, funny game... But don't worry guys; Sonic is here too, he's just not _that_ important... Or maybe he is... O.o;

Summary: A bunch of kids gets kidnapped and one of them manages to call Vector. He decides to take job of finding them; obviously some mad man is using them all for a ritual.

Disclaimer: Sonic does not belong to me, neither any of the other characters... Just the ones that I made up as I ran along the sea of craziness...

**_Chapter Four._**

Sonic had been looking for hours with no stop and he still hadn't found anything... Currently, he was walking along an underground river. Following it up the current he hoped to find at least _something_.

_"Bored yet?"_ Tails asked through the intercom.

"You bet I am..." Sonic replied in a grumpy tone.

He peeked in through a hole in the wall. Sighing, he jumped in and continued his journey.

"Can't you see anything?"

_"Sorry pal, but there is nothing-- Wait, stand still."_

Sonic froze in his tracks, listening keenly. Ahead of him, he could hear the sound of something being dragged along the floor. The sound was enough to give him goosebumps. A light suddenly flashed up ahead, obviously whatever it was had electricity and liked using this path, maybe to get to the surface... The sound must have been another diversion to scare people off.

He jumped up into the ceiling and grabbed onto whatever would hold him. The person hadn't seen him yet, and that fitted him just right. Passing under him, Sonic realised who he had up against him. The creature was a robot, and where you found robots, you found Robotnic... The robot was build with a loud speaker, probably to help it make that blood chilling sound. He watched it pass, and then called his friends to warn them about what might be coming their way. After delivering the message, he sprinted in the direction of which the robot had come from.

He came to a massive steal door, and through it he could hear children screaming. Banging his fists on the door, he tried to pry it open. But he was too weak, not even when he used recoil he could penetrate it. Throwing his hands up he snarled.

_"See if there's a lock--"_

"There isn't..."

He grumbled and went back to the door. Listening, he tried to make out what kind off screams they were. Pain, angst, joy? He was so caught up in it that when Vector placed a hand on Sonic's shoulder, he almost pissed himself, scared that the weird robot had come back.

"Guys, don't sneak up on me like that"

Vector stared at the door. Surely he heard the screams as well.

"You couldn't get it open?"

Sonic shook his head. Grinning wickedly, Vector then tore up the door with a mighty kick, tearing it off its hinges afterwards so it wouldn't fall on anyone.

Stepping inside, they discovered that the screams came from beyond yet another door, but this one had a lock on it. Not that Vector cared. He marched right up and tore that one open as well and finally they could see the kids. They were all wearing leashes around their necks. Their screaming had probably been an idea to get attention from the outside world. Running over to them, Sonic looked at the leashes to let Tails have a look as well.

_"It's a simple lock on it. You can easily pick it if you have a screwdriver."_

He fetched one from Espio's backpack and together they all worked fast to get as many kids as possible loose. Amy gathered them all around her telling them to be quiet and to keep as close to her as possible. While the others were unlocking kids, Vector spotted a flower petal on the ground next to an empty leash. Turning to the girl that he had talked over the phone, he spoke in a low voice.

"Ashime, did you happen to see a little bee-boy named Charmy in here?"

She gave him a frightened look and nodded.

"That man took him and my big brother into the other room... What do you think he's doing--"

He shook his head at her and walked to the other end of the room. A door was carved into the wall and he opened it. It was dark on the other side, another hallway stretched out in front of him.

"This is getting lame..." He muttered and began trudging forwards. When he came to the end, a pain-streaked shriek reached his ears. And it was close by! Lifting his heavy feet, he ran on, barging into the room.

A little Echidna boy was crying by the wall. A man turned sharply to face him. But it wasn't Robotnic.

This man was younger and slimmer. He had no facial hair, and a pair of piercing white eyes. Upon spotting Vector, he made a hand gesture. Two giant robots suddenly filled the door behind him. Down the hallway, he could hear a battle starting up.

The man smiled at him and turned back to the boy. Hunching down, he pointed a weird object at the boy's forehead. The boy jerked violently, and then passed out. Giving in for a cruel laughter, the man turned once again.

"Surely you have come to collect the children..."

Vector nodded grimly, not taking his eyes of the boy, as he looked at him, his hair turned grey and his body grew thin.

"What are you doing to them?"

The man snorted and held up the chalice. With his other hand, he pulled a trigger and the wall behind him fell to reveal a bigger room. And laying sprawled in a cage high up in the ceiling was Charmy, passed out...

Roaring, Vector threw himself towards the man, but all the man had to do was to flick him off for Vector to crash into the opposite wall.

"Do not even think that thought. For in my hand I hold the elixir of life!"

He walked over to Vector and helped him up. Showing him the chalice, Vector noticed the ancient markings on it.

"This is a magical chalice, used by the Gods to achieve eternal youth. There is only one drawback; in order to use it I must first drain the life of twelve chosen children, each of them must have an ability that make them incredible..."

Vector stared at him, then back up at Charmy. Could he already have- No! He turned and slammed the man into the wall. Making a wild grab for the chalice, he shouted out for Espio to hurry up and get over to him!

He could hear that the battle had stopped in the end of the hallway, and that Amy was crying... Had Sonic lost to a bunch of metal heads?

"Uh... Vector?"

He looked up with a snap. Charmy was looking docilely down at him, apparently, he had been drugged to sleep.

"Charmy, I'm so happy that you're ok! Listen, you gotta get out of that cage and get out of here!"

The bee hummed around the cage for a second while Vector fought off the man. He had knocked the chalice out of his hands and now he tried to see if he could crush it with one foot.

After successfully flattening it, he saw the man sneer at him in pure hatred.

"You imbecile! Now I will die like any other mortal! But there is one triumph! The children will never be revived; you have fought in vain…"

He suddenly lifted Vector up and threw him away again. Then he hovered over to Charmy's cage. Tearing it open, he grabbed the bee and held a gun at the little guy's head.

"And now you will pay for trampling the chalice, with this child's life!"

It was as if time froze. The seconds stood still as Vector could only stare at what happened. But it never did, Charmy made an angry sound and forced his stinger into the man's hand. The shot went off but Charmy was already free to dodge it. Losing his balance, the man wobbled for a second in midair, before falling down into the abyss below the cage. But as he fell, he gave off an awful cackle. Charmy seemed too busy to notice this, as he flew straight into Vector's arms. Giving him, his trademark smile, and the two turned to run out to the others... But wait, the robots were still in the doorway.

"Vector, what're we gonna do?"

"Leave this to me Charmy, just stand back..."

He drew his breath and ran towards the robots; jumping over their heads he used a wrestling technique to smash them both. Turning back to flash a smile to his friend, he saw that Charmy was staring into the abyss.

"Hey, I think there's something down there-"

It was the last thing Charmy could say before he was grabbed by the croc and hurled away from the flooding water that rushed up from the abyss. Turning to glance behind him, Vector also saw a huge robot in the midst of the water... With a countdown clock on it. Skimming through the hallway back the others, he yelled out that each of them was to grab three kids and run for it! Passing several openings on their way towards the exit, he shook his head, preventing any off them to stray away. If they got caught in a dead end, they would be _dead meat._

Sonic led the way, as he had both the speed and Tails on camera. But just as they were about to cross over the underground river, the robot equipped with the bomb, appeared out of the water. The robot flung out long arms with a sticky substance on them. Obviously, the robot's master wanted to take them down with him. The timer showed that there was less than four minutes to go and it didn't seem like it wanted to move away any time soon...

"Damn, we need to get around it!"

Amy shouted, pushing the kids behind her and got out her piko piko hammer!

"Stand back Sonic!"

He stared dumbstruck at her.

"Wha... Are you crazy or something!"

He swiped the hammer and gestured for her to get back. Looking back at the huge chunk of moving metal, he yelled that the others had to be ready to run past as soon as he got the robot's attention! Jumping feather light unto its head, he slammed his fist into the empty hull.

"Hey you! Wanna a piece of this?"

He smacked his ass and ducked as a sticky arm flew towards him. He ducked it, and the diversion was enough to let the others pass. But Charmy, who was making up the rear end of the tail behind Vector and got snagged by the arm!

"Help! I'm stuck!"

He tried to get off, but if he pulled to hard, his wings, that caught as well, would be ripped off. Instead, he tried to look for any screws that he could pull loose and unhinge the arm.

_"I can't believe you guys are so helpless. I'll be there in a sec..."_ Tails' sarcastic voice sounded into Sonic's ear.

And he did come. Smashing through the sewer wall, he arrived in a huge mecha-bot. Taking aim; he shot a series of blasts towards the robot. The arm came loose in the explosion, but Charmy was still stuck to it. As it fell down into the dark river water, Vector called out and dived in after him.

Tails abandoned the mecha-bot and jumped to help Sonic disarm the robot. Time was ticking and it was close to zero.

"Sonic, I'll handle this; you get everyone out of here."

Pulling up a screwdriver from a secret pocket in his shoe, Tails started doing his thing. When it all came down to it, the fox seemed to have magic fingers.

Hauling ass outta of there, Sonic registered that Vector was out of the water again. He told him to follow the water path, being a crocodile; he had a better chance of getting through the sewer system than any of them. Nodding, Vector told Charmy to hold his breath for as long as he could and then dived back under water.

They could finally see the light from outside, when a giant blast sounded behind him. Turning back, Sonic tried to see if Tails had made it out of there. Seeing nothing but the explosions, he called out but his voice was drowned in the series of mini explosions. The mysterious man had obviously planted other devices around the area. Feeling rather hopeless about not being capable of helping his friend, Sonic surfaced, got a hold the kids to a near building and ran back towards the sewers.

"Sonic don't! You'll get killed!" Espio called out after him in desperation.

Sonic stopped and gasped for air. The flames that stood out of the trap door were absolute... There couldn't have been another way to have dodged them.

"No... Not Tails..."

He looked worried and plumped down on his butt and sobbed. The sky was coloured by the gasses and flames. Turning to look at the kids, he noticed that Vector and Charmy had joined the crew again. But there was still no sigh of Tails. Getting back to his feet, he tried the intercom.

"Tails, are you there?"

Nothing answered than a lot of static sound.

He tried again, but he still didn't get an answer. His shoulders slumped; he shuffled over to his friends.

"I-I don't think he... Made it..." He whimpered.

That's when Vector's cell jingled, for a moment no one thought about answering it until Espio got fed up and did it for him.

"What you want?" he practically yelled into the receiver!

_"Gee, Espio, I thought ya would be happy to hear that I made it just fine."_

Sonic made a grab for the phone.

"Tails, you made it! But how-"

_"Hehe, sorry Sonic, but since I've been flying solo, I've met up with a slightly different crowd. And they don't like to reveal their secrets to anyone. But I'm just fine. I figured that the bomb would explode if I tried to disarm it, so I sent you guys ahead while I called up my buddies. Luckily I made it to the other side of the wall; it took away a large piece of the blast for me... Wait, Sonic? Are you crying?"_

He sniffled and shook his head.

"Off course I'm not! Heroes don't cry..."

_"Well, then get back to me when you need a shoulder. I have to go; this phone bill is getting big. See ya Sonic."_

And with that, he hung up. Smiling, Sonic returned the cell phone and gathered the kids around him.

Heading back to the city again, they all tried to shake off the scary event.

Amy was the one to catch her senses first, throwing her arms around Sonic's neck.

"Caught you! Now you'll have to marry me!" She squealed.

Sonic just smiled. He wasn't in a mood for a race right now, somehow, he just wanted to sit down and take a rest.

"Ok, where's the best place?"

She froze and twitched. This was a little _too_ easy...

Giving him an annoyed look, she stuck her nose in the air. It _was_ too easy come to think of it. Sonic had just gotten out of a long and hard mission, and he had probably just given in because he was dead tried... She hated this game...

"I don't think I want to do it after all... You're acting weird, maybe another time."

She flashed him a smile and waved. They had entered the city again and it was time for them to part ways. The kids would be taken by Vector and the others to a police station and Sonic would go in search of new adventures, or maybe a free hammock to snooze in... All in all, the night was over and so was the danger.

TBC . . .

_**Epilogue**_

Espio stretched and yawned loudly. They were gathered at the office again, but the little girl, Ashime, was there too. She had lost her brother and her orphanage was far away in another country, so Vector had taken her with him back to their place. He was currently trying to convince Charmy and Espio to let her stay here, at least for the night.

"Look guys, she has no one else to go to..."

Charmy smiled and did a cute loop.

"I don't any objections to that!"

He grinned and landed next to her. Taking a short bow he told her that she could sleep in his bed.

Espio raised an eyebrow and turned over in his chair to catch some shut eye.

"Good thing they're too young to be doing anything else than sleeping..."

He muttered, and dozed off.

Rolling his eyes, Vector pulled a cover up over his purple friend's sleeping form. Looking over to make sure that Charmy and Ashime was also falling asleep. He walked out the door, shutting carefully behind him.

The End!


End file.
